Author Interview – Larry Atlas – South Eight

On The Table Read, “the best book magazine in the UK“, author Larry Atlas talks about how his work in healthcare inspired the story of his new book, South Eight.

Written by JJ Barnes

www.jjbarnes.co.uk

I interviewed author and nurse practitioner Larry Atlas about his life and career, how his experiences in healthcare inspired him to write, and the story of his new release, South Eight.

Tell me a bit about who you are.

I live in New York’s Hudson Valley, about an hour and a half north of New York City. For the early part of my work life, I was an actor and playwright, then screenwriter. My plays were produced in New York, L.A. and regionally; I worked on screenplay projects for all the major Hollywood studios.

In an impulsive but serendipitous career change in midlife, I became a nurse and then nurse practitioner. I was a hospitalist for ten years, and currently am the principal health care provider at a subacute rehab and nursing facility.

When did you first WANT to write a book?

I never wrote prose of any kind after high school, that I can recall. Only poetry, then plays and eventually screenplays. So basically, decades went by before I thought about writing a book. I thought about writing something almost as soon as I began working in a hospital, and tried to do so in play form, not once but twice. I knew within a few pages both times that whatever vague idea I might have had in mind — and it was vague — was far too internal for the stage, and that it could only been done as a novel. That led to South Eight.

When did you take a step to start writing?

If you mean “in the beginning,” I began writing at around 19 when I was in the Army. I’d use the typewriter in the company orderly room after staff had left for the day. I wrote poetry there and then wrote and studied poetry in college after getting out of the Army, before taking up playwriting in earnest.

How long did it take you to complete your first book from the first idea to release?

About ten years in total. For about the first five or six years of the process I was also working two healthcare jobs, so I didn’t have much time to write. But I also was feeling my way along in the writing, so this was actually something of a benefit. The bulk of the book, perhaps half or more, was completed in about two years, from 2019 to 2021.

What made you want to write South Eight?

So, in general terms, the experience of working in a hospital, of being around patients at such crucial moments in their lives, around their families, and around those caring for them, was astonishing, life-changing. And this was so in ways that I couldn’t make sense of on many, many levels. All of us experience and organize the world around us in our own way; for me that way is writing, and so I began. Even as my time in healthcare extended, and my experience and role changed, writing about that world, I think, continued to help me make sense of it.

What were your biggest challenges with writing South Eight?

Perhaps the biggest challenge was writing in prose at all, much less long form fiction. I knew how to write plays and screenplays — at least I thought I did! — but the challenge of telling a story over hundreds of pages, of managing the passage of time and a variety of story lines, not on screen or on the page, was daunting. The “interiority” of it, of the characters themselves, was new, too.

Who or what inspired you when creating your Protagonist?

Even after years in healthcare I’m still astonished by how much my physician colleagues know, and also how they do or don’t navigate the stresses of their work, the consequences of error, the satisfaction of getting things right, the presumed absolutes of medical science versus the uncertainties of outcome that nevertheless plague us in our practice. All of that is true also for nurse practitioners, but I think my physician colleagues, for a variety of reasons, still epitomize healthcare, the individuality of it, for want of a better word.

Who or what inspired you when creating your Antagonist?

I am interested in the ability of some people to manipulate others and dominate events even when their power ought to be in decline, and their bad intentions clear for all to see.

What is the inciting incident of South Eight?

In literal terms, my main character is nearing burnout, as so many in healthcare are these days, when a figure from his past enters his current life and crystallizes many of the doubts and uncertainties that have been building all along.

What is the main conflict of South Eight?

This will sound somewhat vague, but I think it’s the conflict that arises when by doing our job, doing what we’re supposed to do and have been trained to do, we actually do harm. This problem is rife in medicine today and was embodied in an event in my protagonist’s earlier life in the military.

Did you plot South Eight in advance, or fly by the seat of your pants and write freely?

I had only a very general idea about main and secondary story lines when I began; they could have been summarized in a paragraph or two. After that, things just unfolded as I wrote.

Did you get support with editing, and how much editing did South Eight need?

The book didn’t need a lot of editing by the time it was done. A couple writer friends supplied some suggestions, and I had a wonderful copy editor, but that was all.

What is the first piece of writing advice you would give to anyone inspired to write a story?

Possibly to remember the famous quote of Tolstoy’s: “One ought only to write when one leaves a piece of one’s own flesh in the inkpot each time one dips one’s pen.” That’s pretty harsh! But a simpler way of putting it, I think, is that one does these things — whether it’s writing, acting, painting, whatever — because one can’t not do them.

Can you give me a hint about any further books you’re planning to write?

I’ve thought a bit about a sequel to South Eight and am also thinking of something about early art; I can’t be more precise than that!

And, finally, are you proud of your accomplishment? Was it worth the effort?

It certainly was worth the effort, and I’m proud to have completed something that was a lot harder than I imagined when I started. I mean, I’ve read, I’m sure, thousands of novels in my life, without fully realizing how difficult it is to actually write one. Doing so myself has only increased my admiration for those who do it well, and who have moved and inspired me over the years.

Pop all your book, website and social media links here so the readers can find you:

www.larryatlas.com

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